Chelsea Barracks Luxury Glass Boxes
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, has intervened in an attempt to prevent a proposed luxury development in London from going ahead – at the old Chelsea Barracks site.
The site was sold off in 2007 and at the time was awarded the title “Britain’s most expensive residential development site,” by The Times – selling for £959 million to Qatari Diar and Candy Bothers Construction. £75 million per acre. Ouch! Although I gather that Qatari Diar have since purchased the Candy Brother’s share. They have until 2012 to finish paying for the site, but have consistently run into opposition to their plans.
The original plan called for 350 Lord Rogers-designed luxury apartments in ten storey high, steel and glass “pavillions.” This was objected to by a local Residents’ Association and another set of plans have now been submitted which reduce the amount of apartments and increase the green space. But they are still steel and glass boxes and this is where the Prince’s objections come in. Prince Charles wrote to Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber Jasim al-Thani – the prime minister of Qatar and member of the ruling family – asking him to reconsider the Chelsea scheme. He has proposed instead, a classical design by Quinlan Terry which he feels is more in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood.
Prince Charles has clashed with Rogers over his modern designs before, and, unlike his father, occasionally has a way with words, when he described Rogers’ design for an extension to the National Gallery as a “monstrous carbunkle.”
Chelsea Barracks from the air
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingston and various government officials are concerned that the Prince is stepping where he oughtn’t, but I suspect they are more concerned about the fact that Great Britain PLC is to all intents and purposes sold off to the Qataris anyway, and we shouldn’t be stepping on their toes – Barclays bank is now Qatari royal family-owned, they are building what will be London’s highest Tower when complete – the Shard of Glass, and the Qatari Royal family have just built a massive gas refinery plant in Wales which is set to provide over 20% of Britain’s future natural gas requirements.
I am with the Prince on this one. The last thing London needs is yet another collection of “luxury” glass boxes.
